Hmmm....Maybe it does suck, or did suck, only had hand me down presses. Still pretty damn easy to mince a clove of garlic.
Yeah, dude. a good garlic press is a blessing. A shitty garlic press is a curse. Anything that says "zyliss" is shit. Actually, looking at Amazon the only ones that aren't obviously shit are the Oxos and having seen those in person, they're kinda shitty. I have a Messermeister and it doesn't fuck around. I also have a peeler. And yes - it's easy to mince garlic. It also makes your fingers stink. It also makes you avoid the little tiny cloves, whereas with a press you throw seven or eight of them in at once and go sqwoosh. I was in the "mince not crush" camp until I met the Messermeister. Then I got it.
Shit man, that Garlic press looks like it plays for keeps! I wonder if there's a difference (however slight) in taste depending on mice/crush, sort of like the whole shaken/stirred argument for Gin.
I thought we'd looked into that but I was mistaken. I suspect you "bruise" garlic a lot more by pressing it rather than mincing it, but the state of knives I see in most kitchens you're doing a fair amount of bruising anyway. I will say this: thin-sliced garlic fried is definitely different than mashed garlic fried. Both are better than the stuff in the jar.